China!

This blog is being sent out a bit late because apparently China has strict Internet regulations on social networking websites like facebook and blogger! More to come about the race...

As my plane was landing in Shanghai this morning/last night (it was
8:30am for MN, 9:30pm for China...either way you look at it, working
into my 18th hour of travel), two things came to mind:
First thing was, wow, in 24 hours, I'll be done with my race already...

Secondly, I got to reminiscing about my very first travel trip as a
Gopher. It was indoor season, and we were flying to Indiana for a meet
at Notre Dame. I was so excited about the trip I remember emailing my
parents when I got there to tell them: FIRST, we took a bus from
school to the aiport, THEN we took the underground tram from one side
of the airport to ticketing, AND THEN we took a plane to Indy,
followed by ONE MORE bus to get to South Bend...we took so many forms
of transport, just to get to a track meet!

If only God had warmed me then...honey, you aint seen nothin yet!

I've decided today, after the longest trip of my life, traveling is
one of those odd experiences where time seems to have no meaning...the
only way to measure the passage of time is by your progressive
exhaustion, discomfort, and longing for a bed. To add to my body's
confusion was the meal schedule on our flight...we boarded around 3pm,
they fed us dinner around 4:30pm, then brought around a bag with a
little sandwich, apple, and cookie around 8pm (was this supposed to be
lunch again? I dropped it in my backpack and forgot about it), and
then I was awoken for a breakfast-type meal at like 1am...WHO EATS 3
MEALS from dinnertime to 1am? Lol...I just didn't understand if they
were trying to adjust us to the time zone we were entering by serving
us a whole day's worth of meals in reverse, or what...All whining
aside though, the crew on board was excellent, I mean no disrespect to
Delta for serving us so much food, and I especially don't mind racking
up a bunch of sky miles from them too!, all I'm saying is it created
some internal confusion.

Then the mental confusion was epitomized as I woke up and looked up on
the tv screen above me as we descended into Shanghai, and thought to
myself, weird, I feel like I've seen this episode before, now where
was I watching this show? Then I rememered it was the very first show
I tuned in to, on the first flight from Minneapolis to Tokyo, just 16
hours prior. Even though it kind of felt like no time had passed at
all because I spend so much time in the same place, it seemed soo long
ao since I saw that show the first time. Weird.

Once landed, I got a ride with one other late-arriving athlete (who
had been traveling since TUESDAY!) to the meet hotel, which is pretty
much attached to the track stadium! Very cool! It was around 11pm
here, and I walking in to a sleeping roommate in my hotel room, rammed
into a wall while looking for a light switch in the bathroom, but
finally brushed my teeth, and made my way to the bed I was longing
for. Even though it was late morning on my home time clock, I lad down
and slept for an amazing uninterrupted 6 hours more.

I got up early, snacked on the scones my mom sent with me (thanks
mom!!), and now I'm thinking about how I might spend my day! I race at
9:10pm, seems like a long time away, but I don't think I mind having a
bit of recovery/adjustment time anyways.

Oh, one other fun story from the flight (I'm sorry I've probably
complained a lot in this one so I want to end on a good note!) during
one of my standing breaks on the plane, there was an older man
standing and stretching with me who turned and said, "ya know, if they
made the aisle just a little bit wider, we could lay down a track
surface and run on here!" I laughed and said yeah, that'd be awesome!
I couldn't tell if he was just saying that, or if he knew I was a
track athlete, so I asked, 'did you know that's why I am traveling to
China- to run in a track race?!" He laughed and said he had no idea,
but thought it was pretty cool anyways too.

Ok, at some point I'd also like to write up a little something about
the great excitement that was the USA Championships Road Mile on
Thursday night, but for now I think I best be off! I'm hoping the good
performance there will transition me well into my first 800m tonight!
OH BOY!

Love to everybody at home...
Heather